Hello, I found this site and felt it would help to make a diary, its a great and the site is full of great stories and tips.

I broke my leg on Tuesday 12th October 2010, we were about 10 minutes into a 40 minute outside 5 a side football game at exeter university in the uk. I was at the back, ball over the top straight at me just above stomach height and I thought i'd jump and trap it with my right knee up, I was kinda falling back so must have tried to be clever and brought my right foot down heavy. Its not uncommon for me to roll my ankle over and get mild to moderate sprains when playing football, my left ankle is the troublesome one, I thought anyway - I had been wearing an aso ankle brace on that ankle for a good few month (i highly recommend these) with only one semi roll which im sure the aso saved me from causing proper damage. I was wearing a cheap £3 thing from JJB on my right ankle, no support really at all - I will get a second aso when im playing again for the right ankle.

Anyways back to the injury, I think I came down on the outside of the right ankle stumbling back and heard a big crack sound, big pain, reached down and felt what must have been the bottom end of the tibia/fibia under the footie sock, I screamed/shouted - Hope it was manly ;) I turned round, noticed a load of heads turn due to my shouting, I just led on my left hand side on the floor and tried to keep still, to be fair the pain wasnt too bad, kinda like a bad sprain really, maybe it was the shock? Heard my team mate say call an ambulance and the ref helped keep me calm, asking for phone numbers to call to get in touch with love ones.

The wait for the ambulance felt like an age, my team mates said it was about 10 minutes, I remember laying there looking at the other games of football going on really in disbelief that it had happened, that I had actually done this to myself, not some sliding tackle but by jumping a couple feet and landing like a special case.

The medics arrived, a bit kind of Blasť which I wasnt too hapy with at the time but in hindsight it probably wouldnt have helped being anything other than calm and collected.

I was given gas and morphine and a medic said he was going to correct the ankle - !!!what!!! here??! I thought. At the time I would of thought it be back at the hospital but after reading some other peoples stories it seems they are done as quick as possible and In some cases without pain killers - Even if the ref who nursed me before the medics arrived said he was a trained doctor and would perform the correction I think I would have freaked out/passed out.

Anyway the team carried the stretcher to the ambulance - brings a tear to the eye - love those guys. When It doesnt knacker me to hop 50 yards with the crutches Im using at the moment I'll head up to the uni and thank the ref who was great. The medics were also great once the morphine kicked in. The correction they did didnt feel painful at all, just felt the bones clicking back into place.

At the hospital came Xrays first - I didnt see them.
a doctor performed an open reduction after seeing the xrays and saying I needed surgery- he gave me a pain killer that he said was great at making me forget the proceedure, I was of course worried, I didnt want anyone moving it around whilst I was wake. Anyway the doctor was right, by the time I have sobered up my lower leg and ankle was in a cast, I dont remember a thing abut the proceedure, great stuff.

Then another doctor cuts the cast down the middle on the top! that was painfull, the scissors felt like they were cutting my skin. The leg was elevated and an Ice pack plonked on top. With pain killers I was off to bed.
Didnt sleep much.

They were going to make the decision in the morning on whether to operate next day or in a few days after the swelling decreased. Next morning a doctor looks at it and says it huge, might need to send you home and come back in a week! this frankly shocked me, he then said he'd check with someone and get back to me, 30 minutes later im getting ready for surgery, all systems go!

I'd never broken a bone before let alone have surgery, its odd driffing off like that and then waking up with the job done, leg all bandaged up with a back slab.

Next day Im given a quick workshop on crutches and sent home with tramadol and an anti inflammatory, I forget the name.

2 weeks after I had the stiches out and a fibreglass cast added, a lot lighter than the back slab. Whilst this was added I actually managed to find out what I'd actually done to myself. Im not sure if the hospital were just so busy but the surgeon did tell me what they were going to do or had done.

Anyways, the tiba was fractured low down the leg - a rod was put in - still not sure as I've still no seen the xrays, and the fibia had a plate and screws. I also chipped a bit of bone off somewhere......

I have another appointment in 4 weeks with xrays, i'll ask to see all on record then.

Pain was really bad to start, moving from bed to crutches with the blood flooding down the leg was the most painfull but now 2 - 3 weeks on its ok to make the same transition.

sleeping is easier with the cast - can sleep on my side but its still uncomfortable and hard to sleep right through the night, I have some sleeping pills to try out, see if those work tonight.

The cast is below the knee, I have full knee movement, sometimes if I roll over It feels like the bone is moving around, it must just be in my head. im wiggling my toes a lot and always moving round, bending knee, eating loads of calcium rich foods.

Depression is always on the cards, feeling down about being so useless and not being able to play sport, go to the gym. Luckly I can work from home, work mates have been great along with my family. My girlfriend has helped me loads, without her it would be impossible.

I just hpe at the moment I can get back to walking, running and football as soon as possible. I'll try my best to keep posts up to date as im sure there are a other sports guys with breaks asking the same questions. I've read some already reporting thing like "im back playing but im not the same" god i hope I can play to the max when Im better.